Just looking at the list of events,and I noticed that the Wine Societies dinners have moved oop north, which is great. So I’m thinking of going, maybe on my todd, with my missus or seeing if some friends (also WS members) fancy it. Having said that, I’m not too sure what goes on at these events. Is it one big table, and lots of chatting with people around? Or are you on small tables? With your mates? Is it a bit awkward if you’re on your lonesome? Is it a case of small snifters of lots of wines, or is it normal glasses like the wine pairing at tasting menus? Is their any background given on the wine you’re tasting?

If anyone has experience of them, as the famous Python sketch ended, “What’s it like”?

I took my father to one in Stevenage a couple of years back and if I remember correctly the format was comparing the same grape variety across a pair of wines; one at the cheaper end and one finer wine.

The room was laid out as a number of big round tables of 8-10 and most of them were mixtures of couples and groups of friends, and I’m sure there were individuals there as well. So virtually every table had people on it that didn’t know each other, but with a shared interest in the wines conversation flowed easily.

The meal was hosted and each wine was described as it was poured (reasonably generous tasting sample size but not a full pour of each). The evening started with a glass of fizz before everyone sat down, and then 3 courses with the pairs of wines as described earlier.

Overall - Great fun, good wine and an experience I’d like to repeat at some point.

I have attended several wine dinners at Stevenage. They were all as described by ‘Alchemist’. At each event the bottles kept coming round so that a further tasting or comparison was possible. The wines were of good quality and chosen to compliment the food. As wines were being served a member of the Wine Society staff talked about it, or about the wine tasted before and after. The occasions were enjoyable, informative and good value for money.

Same experience here! We went to one of the lunches last July - but I assume it’s a similar arrangement to the dinners. Tables spread around the room where you end up chatting to other members. Lovely food, with each course matched by a specific wine, and information given by someone from the tastings/events team about each wine. It was very informal and fun, and all the wines were very good to excellent.

Before the event you will get information about the menu and the wine matches, which means you can read about the wines beforehand too.

We’re going to one of the dinners in June, and very much looking forward to it!

My wife and I attended the Domaine Weinbach tasting dinner in Glasgow last November and as it was in a restaurant private dining room the table layout was broadly governed by that, so it was long tables of about 8-10 each.

We had a great evening and it was a pleasure to sit next to the winemaker and Jo Locke, though they did rotate around the tables after the main course to chat to more people which was as expected. The WS member company was excellent as was food and wine.

Based on that experience I would very much recommend it.

On a related note, I’ve just been emailed to highlight to me another tasting in Glasgow in April which is welcome as I think there was a thread last year requesting this type of targetted marketing of these events. Good to see.